The Mets were in danger of losing their first series of the year after splitting the first two games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. To prevent that from happening, they turned to Tylor Megill, who has been fabulous since replacing Jacob deGrom.

The Mets gave him an early lead when Mark Canha kicked things off with a single and an error, which allowed him to reach second base. Francisco Lindor drove it in and Megill had a 1-0 lead to work with when he took the mound late in the frame. He took the slim lead and ran with it until fourth when he gave up a solo home run to Christian Walker, who had a knack for running this series.

With the game tied at one apiece, it became a pitching duel between Megill and Madison Bumgarner, whom the Mets notoriously struggle against. The Mets took a break when Bumgarner was lifted in the sixth inning and Starling Marte manufactured the kickoff alone. At times this season, his base-path adventures have been a mix of Jonathan Villar and Daniel Murphy, but his aggression paid off after he doubled up with one out in the sixth. He attempted to steal third, and the catcher’s throw sailed into left field, allowing Marte to head home with the go-ahead run.

The Mets added in the seventh after the Arizona bullpen suffered a collapse. They scored two runs in the inning with the help of two walks and two slap batters. James McCann was hit to load the bases, Travis Jankowski worked a walk to force a run, then Marte was also hit to drive home the second run of the inning.

Now given a bigger lead to work with Megill went back there for the seventh and came so close to finishing it, but with two outs he gave up back-to-back hits that brought Arizona back to second inning at home. It ended his day on the mound, but it was a productive outing nonetheless. He struck out seven and walked one to drop his ERA to 2.35 for the season.

Seth Lugo looked stellar in relief from Megill, but the Mets bullpen was a bit stretched from the previous game, so some two-out insurance runs in the eighth were met with great relief. JD Davis had a good day at the plate and capped it off with a home run to the opposite field while serving as DH. A brace and an error followed, which brought home the team’s sixth and final point. With the lead extended, this allowed the team to give Edwin Diaz a day off. Joely Rodríguez instead got the ninth and threw a clean inning to give the Amazin another win.

Box scores

ESPN
MLB

Win probability added

What is WPA?

Big Mets Winner: Starling Marte, +19.5% WPA
Mets big loser: Pete Alonso, -8.1% WPA
Food Pitchers: 26.4% WPA
Mets hitters: 23.6% WPA
The most aw3s0mest game: Starling Marte stole the base and the run scored in the sixth
The sux0rest game: Christian Walker home run in the fourth

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